The present invention relates to a compressor.
In recent years, a compressor is mounted on a vehicle such as a hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle and a fuel cell vehicle. In such vehicles having a power unit that is silent in operation, a compressor is mounted which develops various noises from inlet port side and outlet port side of the compressor. Such noises are unpleasant to passengers of the vehicle. Therefore, measures that suppress the noise development from a compressor have been proposed. In a fuel cell vehicle using compressed air for power generation by fuel cell, the compressed air needs to be cooled for enhancing power generation efficiency.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-108488, for example, describes a compressor having functions of silencing and cooling the fluid (air) discharged after compression. The compressor includes a cylinder block having therein a rotor chamber accommodating a compression mechanism for drawing in, compressing air and then discharging the compressed air and a silencing and cooling chamber accommodating therein an intercooler core for cooling and reducing the pressure fluctuation of the discharged air. The cylinder block has a structure wherein the cylinder block encloses the silencing and cooling chamber and cooperates with a gear housing to enclose the rotor chamber. The rotor chamber and the silencing and cooling chamber are separated by a partition wall that is integrally formed with the cylinder block and communicating with each other through a discharge port formed at a position in the partition wall adjacent to the gear housing. The air compressed by the compression mechanism is discharged with pulsation through the discharge port into the silencing and cooling chamber. Then, the compressed air is flowed through the intercooler core to be cooled there and simultaneously the noise development is lessened by reducing the pressure fluctuation, and the compressed air is discharged from the silencing and cooling chamber to the outside of the compressor.
In the structure of the compressor according to the above Publication, the compressed air flowed through the discharge port is cooled when passing through the intercooler core of the silencing and cooling chamber. However, the compressed air is flowed through only a part of the intercooler core because the discharge port is formed through the partition wall at a position adjacent to the gear housing, so that the compressor has a problem that the compressed air is not sufficiently cooled. Increasing the spaced distance between the discharge port and the intercooler core, the compressed air can be flowed through the entire area of the intercooler core. In this case, the size of the compressor becomes large.
The present invention which has been made in light of such problems is directed to providing a compressor that improves the function of cooling discharged fluid and reducing noise without upsizing the compressor.